Backyard

Nanwalek residents were about to hold a special election on Dec. 10 to decide whether to ban the sale, importation and possession of alcholic beverages in the Native community. Secretary/treasurer of the Nanwalek village council Sally Ash predicted the measure would pass in the village of 200.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District officials will use the state fairgrounds and part of a Ninilchik Tribal Council building to teach 119 Ninilchick elementary school students after a fire destroyed part of their school the week before. Although smoke-damaged, the high school section was scheduled to open the following Monday. Another 120 students attended the school’s upper grades. Fire officials said that an electrical short may have caused the fire.

As people begin making their Thanksgiving plans and maybe even get an early start on gift shopping, Homer also opens its wallets — and hearts — to give to those more in need. Last Friday, the Homer Community Food Pantry held its annual Empty Bowls fundraiser. Local restaurants donated soup and potters donated bowls, raising enough to buy several months of canned goods, food pantry director Diana Jeska said.

Rep. Gail Phillips was re-elected to the Alaska House of Representatives, defeating Democratic challenger Joni Whitmore in a close election that saw Whitmore do well south of Anchor Point, but lose by a wide margin in the northern precincts. U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and U.S. Rep. Don Young were also re-elected by huge margins. The majority of Homer, as well as statewide, voters chose Bob Dole over Pres. Bill Clinton, making Alaska one of the few states Dole won. Homer saw a 48.8 percent voter turn out.

The request for just over $2 million for a new city library topped Homer’s areawide legislative wish list that was adopted on Monday, Oct. 28. The Homer City Council voted 4-0 to approve the list that shows the city’s support for projects that would serve a public broader than the city’s population.

The Haunted Hickory, a spooky tour of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hickory, opens to scare the Homer and wider-Kenai Peninsula community on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 3:30-4:30 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. The haunted ship tour is also the cutter’s biggest community outreach event of the year.

Thirty members of the Homer community marched down Pioneer Avenue to City Hall on Oct. 15 with signs with messages such as “Free the Hostages — End Domestic Violence” and “There is No Excuse for Domestic Violence.” The march was organized by South Peninsula Women’s Services to acknowlege the existence of domestic violence as well as to honor its victims. FBI figures from 1991 calculated that a woman is battered every 15 seconds in the United States. In the fiscal year 1996, 401 women on the Lower Kenai Peninsula sought help from SPWS.

Homer’s centennial celebration started off with hundreds of spectators turned out to watch $3,000 worth of fireworks above Bishop’s Beach on Oct. 3 and was followed by a potluck at the Homer Elks Lodge on Oct. 4, with slideshow by Homer historian and author Janet Klein and painting of Homer Pennock.

Sylvia Thompson was about a month away from celebrating her 100th birthday, just as the city of Homer was also getting ready to celebrate its centennial. Thompson was born on Nov. 12, 1896, in Middleport, N.Y., the same year William McKinley was elected president and the Supreme Court ruled “separate but equal” facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional. She remembered the sinking of the Titanic and the Lusitania, as well as celebrating Armistice Day with her husband, Robert Thompson, when World War I ended.

Sound sleepers might miss early morning displays of the northern lights, but if you have a dog that wakes you up at night or find yourself awake, with luck you might just catch one of the glories of the north. Look anytime the sky is dark.

Despite objections from many lower Kenai Penisula residents, the controversial onshore tracts just north of Homer remained a part of a proposed Cook Inlet state oil and gas lease sale scheduled for December. Most of the tracts are offshore in Cook Inlet, but some 192,000 acres are located on the lower peninsula north of Homer. Opponents said they hoped Gov. Tony Knowles would pull the onshore tracts from the sale.

Lasse Holmes, Karen Berger and Steve McCasland opened the doors to Homer Brewing Co. in the former Manley Terminal building on Ocean Drive on Sept. 21. It sold two beers: Old Inlet Pale Ale and Broken Birch Bitter. Holmes and former resident Lawrence Livingston created the Q and Q Brewers Guild in the Old Inlet Trading Post’s basement, where the idea of Homer’s first brewery was born. Holmes, Berger and McCasland pooled their finances for the new venture.

The Homer Public Library unveiled two new additions — one small in size and the other quite large — during the 10th birthday celebration of the current library building on Saturday, Sept. 17.

Guests walking into the library to attend the event were greeted by the new Friends of the Homer Public Library bookmobile, which was open so the public could see the shelves of books inside. Once inside, a rectangle wrapped in orange paper caught the eye before FHPL Vice President Sue Mauger and former board member Cleo Webb unveiled the painting of the library.

The first time 13-year-old McKenzy Johnson took a shot at the Dall ram she missed.

Though McKenzy, her father Doug Johnson, and a family friend stood 250 feet from the ram, the distance forced her to shoot from a steep 30-degree angle. The ram, busy head-butting rocks to show his dominance, was making his way down the mountain unaware of the hunters below.

Homer Police Chief Dennis Oakland ended up in pursuit of a car thief when he was called to handle a disturbance at Smoky Bay Natural Food on Bartlett Street. An employee called about 8 a.m. to report that Richard Phelan caused problems and refused to leave the store. Oakland took Phelan to the Community Mental Health Center instead of arresting him, but while Oakland spoke with a center employee, Phelan slipped out and drove off in an employee’s 1987 Honda. The keys were on the dashboard. Phelan was arrested after a car chase ended in a blockade.

A Minnesota angler won the Homer Jackpot Halibut Derby with a 379-pound halibut. Jerry Meinders was visiting his son stationed at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks and had never been halibut fishing before. On his fourth day of fishing, he reeled in the fish that ended up winning about $25,000.

The Kachemak Bay Wooden Boat Society and Alaska Marine Conservation Council are teaming up to offer Homer one big maritime festival next weekend, Sept. 8-11.

By combining the 24th annual Kachemak Bay Wooden Boat Festival with the second annual Halibut Fest, the two organizations avoid hosting overlapping festivals placed closely together on the calendar, said AMCC Community Fisheries Organizer Hannah Heimbuch.